Download The War That Divided A Nation - Vernon Independent School

By:
Sarah Macklin
The Civil War was a war between the
confederacy and the union. The factors that
first sparked this war still remain in debate to
this day. The battle was issued over slavery. The
confederacy believed that slavery was needed,
and that it was ok to treat the people with
violence. However, the Union did not agree to
this. They believed that African Americans
should be treated equally with the whites. This
is the main reason why these two decided to go
to war.

Another main reason of the Civil war
was the dispute over the rights of the individual
states.



In July of 1863, General Robert E. Lee's Army
Of Northern Virginia of 75,000 men and the 97,000
man Union Army Of The Potomac under General
George G. Meade met, by chance, when a
Confederate brigade sent forward for supplies
observed a forward column of Meade's cavalry. Of
the more than 2,000 land engagements of the Civil
War, Gettysburg ranks supreme. Although the
Battle of Gettysburg did not end the war, nor did it
attain any major war aim for the North or the
South, it remains the great battle of the war.
Here at Gettysburg on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863,
more men actually fought and more men died than
in any other battle before or since on North
American soil.

Fredericksburg, BATTLE. Robert E. Lee‘s
evacuation of Maryland after the battle on
Antietam Creek happened on Sept. 19-20,
1862. Lee rested a few days on the Virginia
side of the Potomac, and then marched up
the Shenandoah Valley. McClellan did not
pursue, but, after calling for reinforcement
two times, he declared his intention to stand
where he was, on the defensive, and "attack
the enemy should he attempt to recross into
Maryland." The government and the loyal
people, not liking the delay, demanded an
immediate advance.


Word had been sent to Anderson that a
bombardment of the fort was about to commence.
Suddenly the dull booming of a mortar at Fort
Johnson was heard, and a fiery shell went flying
through the black night. The Bombardment of Fort
Sumter had begun, and the Civil War was officially
underway. Then the great guns on Morris Island
opened upon Fort Sumter, and a furious attack
began. At his own request, the venerable Virginian
Edmund Ruffin fired the first shot at Sumter.
The combat lasted for four hours. Then the
firing from the batteries became more
concentrated. Some of the barbette guns were
dismounted and otherwise disabled, and the
barracks were set on fire.

Rich Mountain, BATTLE. Early in 1861
the Confederates attempted to
permanently occupy the country south of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railway in Virginia.
They were placed under the command of
R. S. Garnett, a meritorious soldier, who
was in the war with Mexico, and was
brevetted for gallantry at Buena Vista. He
made his headquarters at Beverly, in
Randolph county, and prepared to prevent
the National troops from pushing through
the mountain gaps into the Shenandoah
Valley.


Monitor and Merrimac. At the moment when the
Confederates evacuated Manassas a strange naval battle
occurred in Hampton Roads. The Confederates had raised
the sunken Merrimac in the Gosport navy yard and made it
into an iron-clad ram, which they called the Virginia,
commanded by Captain Buchanan, late of the United States
navy. She had gone down to Hampton Roads and destroyed
(March 8, 1862) the wooden sailing frigates Congress and
Cumberland, at the mouth of the James River, and it was
expected she would annihilate other ships there the next
morning. Anxiously the army and navy officers of that
vicinity passed the night of the 8th, for there appeared no
competent human agency near to avert the threatened
disaster.
Her aggregate weight of guns was 284,000 lbs., two
of them 200-pounder Parrott guns. She had two horizontal
steam-engines, and was furnished with sails. At her bow
was a formidable wrought-iron ram or beak. She was
accidentally set on fire and destroyed at her moorings at
League Island, below Philadelphia, Dec. 15, 1866.

Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) After the capture
of Fort Donelson in 1862. General Grant
prepared to push towards Corinth, an important
position at the intersection of the Charleston
and Memphis, Mobile and Ohio railways.
Possession of that point would give the National
troops control of the great railway
communications between the Mississippi and the
East, and the border slave-labor States and the
Gulf of Mexico. Passing up the Tennessee River,
the main body of Grant's troops were encamped,
at the beginning of April, between Pittsburgh
Landing, on that stream, and Shiloh Meeting
House, in the forest, 2 miles from the river bank.

Fair Oaks, (or Seven Pines), May, 1862,
Gen. Fitz-John Porter was sent by General
MeClellan with a considerable force to
keep the way open for McDowell's army to
join him, which he persistently demanded,
in order to venture on a battle for
Richmond. Porter had some sharp
skirmishes near Hanover Courthouse, and
cut all railway connections with Richmond,
excepting that from Fredericksburg.

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/-The-Civil-War-united-states-ofamerica-758088_640_462.jpg

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/136319/why_did_the_american_civil
war_start.html

http://americancivilwar.com/getty.html

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/fredericksburg/battlefredericksburg.jpg

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/civilwar/ftsumter.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lexingtonrifles.com/Images/
Art/Troiani__Men_of_Arkansas.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lexingtonrifles.com/1862.htm&usg=_
_wg4W5RouT_s6L4A3wnykevRTU_U=&h=297&w=401&sz=32&hl=en&start=8&um=1&it
bs=1&tbnid=4gYXpjInvLp6PM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3DTHE%2BBA
TTLE%2BAT%2BSHILOH%26hl%3Den%26um%3D1

http://www.paradoxmind.com/1301/Civil%20War/shilohbattle.jpg
THIS SLIDE SHOW WAS CREATED BY:
SARAH MACKLIN